The Trial of the Amazons #1 // Review
Paradise sits atop Doom’s Doorway. The island of Themyscira has held the door to a pit of monsters from the underworld for quite a long time. Always there has been a guardian to watch over that doorway. Three groups of Amazons compete for the honor of being that guardian in The Trial of the Amazons #1. The seven-part crossover event opens with an issue co-written by everyone currently working on a Wonder Woman-related comic book, including Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, Joëlle Jones, Michael W. Conrad, and Becky Cloonan. Art for the issue is passed between several artists, including Laura Braga, Skylar Patridge, Joëlle Jones, and Elena Casagrande. It’s a big issue opening up on a two-month crossover spanning several different titles.
Three different groups of Amazons converge on the magical island of Themyscira. Wonder Woman returns to her home island just as the warlike Bana-Mighdall and the mysterious Esquecidas arrive. All have convened for a contest to see who will be champion of the doorway. A challenge raised at an opening feast puts considerably more at stake than a single doorway. Still, a murder on the island could prove to pose a much more serious danger for everyone on the whole island.
Given the sheer number of different writers working on this single issue, it’s pretty amazing that the story ends up being as coherent as it is. Editors Brittany Holzherr and Paul Kaminski have kept all of the many elements of a tremendous creative team in an impressive state of balance for the entire 26 pages of the issue. With so many titles converging into a single plot, there was a real risk of everything crashing together in a big, narrative mess. Everything is staggeringly well-balanced at the opening of a promising multi-title crossover.
The art doesn’t exactly move smoothly from one moment to the next. Each art team makes a distinct impact, but the transition between teams can feel like a disorienting jump cut. This isn’t always a bad thing. Joëlle Jones’ artist’s entrance on the tenth page is just the punch it needs to be. The drama of that Page Ten hit DOES sap some of the impact that should have been more appropriately framed for the stinger at the end of the issue. The plot might not allow for a logical transition between art teams. Still, everything is visually executed quite well from cover to cover.
The single most impressive thing about the first issue of Trial of the Amazons is the fact that it comes together at all. The pacing of the issue seems remarkably even. Yara Flor doesn’t get a whole lot of time on the page, but she DOES make quite an impact. The rest of the Esquecidas are seen from the perspective of the rest of the Amazons as something of a recent mystery. Yara and company will take a more prominent role as the crossover continues. The rest of the issue feels quite well-balanced.
